Integral Evolutionary Tantra

Dr. Marc Gafni, Director and Co-Founder of CIW serves as a teacher in residence. He has written the following Welcome to the website:

Every person is responsible for their own awakening

The invitation and the challenge of the spirit in our generation is to create a politics of eros and love. That can only begin to happen when each person in the polis takes responsibility for the erotic quality of his or her life. We need to, and we can, realign our selves with the vital currents of loving energy that course throughout our universe. We can decide to realize our place in the flow of sacred eros, and from that place we can transform, first our lives and, ultimately, our planet.

As you probably know, most people assume that eros is merely a synonym for sex. It is not, the fact that we so often confuse eros with sex merely reminds us of how distant we are from true erotic engagement.

Erotic fulfillment is reached when you expand the realm of eros beyond the sexual to embrace all of your existence. Indeed the root of the Sanskrit word tantra-tan- means “expansion”. True tantric energy expands into all realms of life. This expansion is the goal of Kabbalistic tantra.

The Sexual models the erotic . That is to say, within the sexual itself are the most important hints of eros. From the nature of the sexual we learn what it means to live erotically. Sex models the erotic but it does not exhaust the erotic. Sex can never by itself fill our sexual needs; but it can never fill our erotic needs. When sex tries to do what is beyond its power to accomplish, sexuality implodes on itself. We begin to find ful-fil-ment only in boundary breaking sexuality, which becomes the only way we can experience eros.

At this key time in history we are called to evolve and embody Love, Sex and Eros. The sexual is the ultimate spiritual master. Deep understanding of the sexual is the ultimate guide to accessing the spirit in every dimension of our reality Kabbalistic texts say. As one sacred text says that if the entire Torah would not have been given, we would learn all of the Torah from the Song of Songs. The Songs of Songs is an explicit love poem, that holds all wisdom in every area of life. We learn from the teachings hidden in the folds of the sexual or as the great Zen Master Ikkyu says; “Rinsai’s disciple never got the message, but I, the blind donkey, know the truth; love play can make you immortal. The autumn breeze of a single night of love is, better than 100,000 years of sterile sitting meditation.”

To be a great Lover-, an Outrageous Lover in all facets of your being- we must listen deeply to the simple yet elegant spirit whisperings of the sexual. It is time to reclaim the sexual as the master who can teach us how to access the erotic in all of life.

We need to be willing to stand with each other in sexuality. We need to learn what that means with all of its complexity, with all of its shadows. With all the pain, all the pleasure and with all the wounds its causes. Through all of that, we can find our way to an enlightened sexuality.

Together we can unfold a grand new map to create the future of eros and if you dare the realization of your own enlightenment. How are we going to do it? We are going to love our way to enlightenment! Step up to play a larger game- that of the Outrageous Lover, which is no less the evolution of love itself!

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CIW Statement on Negative Internet Campaign

In response to the current attacks on Dr. Marc Gafni, The Center for Integral Wisdom has released an official public statement, with comments below it. Read the full statement and comments here.

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